Bruins salvage split at Hastings Classic Friday

Hastings Classic
Montana Western Box Score | Hastings Box Score

HASTINGS, Neb. -- The 12th-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team salvaged a split after the first day of competition at the Hastings Classic Friday at the Lynn Farrell Arena.

BU dropped its opening match 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21) to the University of Montana Western before posting a dramatic 3-2 (24-26, 13-25, 25-13, 25-14, 15-11) victory over Hastings College in the nightcap. 

The Bruins (7-2) will conclude tournament action tomorrow (Sept. 7) with matches scheduled against No. 23 Northwestern (Iowa) College at 2 p.m. and Dakota State University at 4 p.m.

Montana Western 3, Bellevue 1

After dropping the opening set, Montana Western won the final three games en route to the upset.

Symone Faulkner recorded a career-high 16 kills and hit .452 while Caitlyn Rueth added 13 kills and 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.

Beth Walker registered 52 assists, six kills, five digs and three service aces.

Libero Meghan Evans led the Bruins with 14 digs.

Depsite allowing UMW to hit .342, the Bruins took the opening set, 25-22. BU was paced by Faulkner's five kills while Walker and Evans each tallied two service aces.

Trailing 15-13, the Bulldogs used a 7-0 run to post a 25-20 win in the second set.

BU never led in the third set and trailed by as many as eight points twice as they lost, 25-20.

UMW hit .469 with just one attacking error as they took the fourth set, 25-21. Faulkner tallied eight kills on eight swings in the game.

The Bulldogs improved to 7-7 with the win.

Bellevue 3, Hastings 2

After dropping the first two sets (26-24, 25-13) against the Broncos, BU stormed back in convincing fashion, taking the final three sets, 25-13, 25-14, 15-11.

Walker tallied her fifth double-double of the year after recording 50 assists and a team-high 17 digs. She also added three block assists.

Three Bruins finished with double-digit kill totals paced by Annie Benson's 14. Benson also added eight digs, three assists and two blocks. Faulkner registered 11 kills and six blocks while Rueth tallied 10 kills and seven digs.

After hitting for a negative hitting percentage in games one and two, BU hit .280 in the third and .414 in the fourth to force a deciding fifth game.

The Bruins trailed 4-1 in the fifth, before reeling off eight of the next nine points to take a 9-5 lead. BU led 14-8 before Hastings scored three-straight to force a BU timeout. Bellevue responded out of the timeout with a kill by Benson to end the contest.

Katie Zoucha led the Broncos (7-4) with 11 kills.